


Much More Than I Should

by dont_quote_me



Category: Glee
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-01-18 17:45:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12392997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dont_quote_me/pseuds/dont_quote_me
Summary: Quinn develops a major crush on Sam at the beginning of her freshman year, but it ends up being one sided. She goes through the school year confused as to what is going on in her life. (Updates every two weeks.)





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Jsodndoj. Updates in two weeks.

High school hadn't started long ago for Quinn Fabray, but she already had a major crush. Sam Evans. He was in her gym class for first period, and they were both freshmen. A month into high school, and she was in deep.

Her friend, Brittney Pierce was on the Cheerios cheerleading team with him, and she knew about her crush. Brittany had told Sam about Quinn's crush a while ago.

Although Brittany was always telling her to just go for it, she could never ask him out. She was certain that since Sam hadn't done anything, even with the knowledge that she liked him, that he was not interested.

Math with Brittney Wednesday afternoon was uneventful. Just the usual, with Brittney making crude jokes about her and Sam with Quinn blushing. "Today is going better than the rest of the week had been," she thought peacefully as the bell rang. And this was true.

On Monday, she woke up just as school started, on Tuesday, she twisted her ankle so painfully that it hurt to walk for the rest if the day, but today was different. Today was good. Walking to her sixth period English class, she couldn't have been happier. This was her last class of the day. What made it even better was that as she turned the corner, she got to see Sam.

That was unusual, for he usually stayed down the hall by his class. But there was a few times where she got to see him before sixth. Smiling, Quinn walked slower, to see him for just a few more precious seconds.

Sam slowed up his walking as well and cupped his hand to his mouth, then half yelled: "Get off your phone!"

To this short blonde girl that walked past him. Right as Quinn was walking into the classroom, she saw Sam pick up his arm and put it over the girl's shoulder. Walking to her seat, Quinn's legs felt numb and like Jello. She could fall over any second. Her heart dropped and her mouth instantly felt dry. Staring at her desk for a few seconds before sitting, she blinked quickly to stop the current onslaught of tears that threatened to show.

"Why?" She thought as she fiddled with the pencil she got out to distract her from crying.

"I'm blonde too. Why? Is it because she's shorter? Just... why?"

The tears threatened to fall down her cheeks but she scolded herself.

"No. Not right now. When you get home. Not now."

She quickly sniffed and blinked fast to dry her eyes.

Noah Puckerman, or Puck, as everyone called him, sat in front of her in his normal seat.

"What's up?" He asked. He could sense her depression.

"Nothing," she lied.

But that answer didn't work for long. By the end of the period, he had figured it out anyway.

"Oh. Yeah, I know her. I don't know her name, but Finn has a locker next to her," Puck said when the two walked outside and saw them all over each other when class ended.

Quinn said nothing, so Puck continued: "She's hella ugly though. But I will admit she's got an ass."

Letting out a small choked sob, Quinn covered her face.

Puck closed his mouth and looked at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid," he apologized.

Shaking her head, Quinn replied, "No, it's okay. Really. It's stupid for me to get upset over this."

"Let me walk you home?"

"I'll be fine," the sad blonde says as she walked away.  
***  
"Eww! He's so ugly!" Sugar Motta had told Quinn that morning when she saw who she was oogling in gym.

Quinn laughs silently at her words now, as she lays in bed, with all the lights off, and the curtains closed off.

"If only she was right," Quinn thought sadly.

Now Quinn lets the tears fall freely down her checks and into her pillow. She was scared for tomorrow.

"Everyday gets worse and worse," she thought, "Waking up late was annoying, as was twisting my ankle. But this is worse than any twisted ankle. How must I be if that girl really is as ugly as Puck says?"

Feeling too tired and aggravated, she can't even get out of bed.

Thinking about what Puck said to her yesterday after school kept going through her mind.

They were just hanging out after school, by the W building, where they could see the broken cars for auto body classes.  
"We should totally hop over the wall and go into one of those cars. We can even make a movie of it!" Puck said giddily.  
Quinn immediately put her foot down on it.

"No way, Puckerman. I'm not trying to get suspended," she said as a kneejerk response.

He didn't mention it again after that.  
But laying in bed, staring at the dark ceiling, Quinn realized something.

"I don't care. I don't care at all anymore."

Grabbing her phone from her bedside table, she quickly texted Puck.

Q: hey. I was thinking about what u said. And we should totally get in 1 of those cars. Txt me when u get this.

Laying her phone on her bed, Quinn smiled a small smile. The first smile she's had for almost twelve hours, she realized, looking at the time and seeing it was almost three in the morning.

"This is about to get hella good. Because I just got over Sam. Normally it takes me longer, but here I am. Completely over in just a few hours. Go me. I fucking rock."  
The next morning was definitely one of Quinn Fabray's finer mornings.

"You've got this. You are an awesome girl who looks absolutely amazing today!" Were Quinn's words while she put on her makeup, looking at herself in the mirror.  
In gym, she couldn't stop smiling and laughing. Even though that was her first class of the day, and Sam was in it, she had a great time.

"Stop smiling. You look like a physcopath," one of her friends, Santana said grimly at gym.

"I can't help it! I'm just so happy!" Quinn exclaimed.

That morning, the gym class were in five different rows, and with one person in the front of the line facing the line. People in the line would go up one at a time to do burpees for a full minute, and do as many as they can. The person already at the front of the line would count them.

Quinn's counter for the burpees was one of Sam's friends, who Quinn did not know the name of. She was not nervous at all. If it were any other day, she might have been over the fact that Sam was right next to her line, counting for one of her friends. So he had a full view of her. But that still didn't make her nervous.

As the last person before her went up, she immediately starting think of her happy place.  
~~~  
Quinn was wearing her favorite white heels. They were beautiful. Her grandmother gave her them long ago. She was wearing her favorite pink spring top, that flowed past her hips, and hung down her midthighs. Wearing short shorts, she easily walked in the summer heat. But she loved it. It was part of the small amount of time that it didn't not snow or rain in where she was living. Helena, Montana. And she was next to her beloved Grandma Debbie. The amazing, witty, grandmother that she had known all her life. She had recently moved from Thousand Oaks, California, living with her parents in a big blue house that was split into four areas. For four apartments. Quinn and her family  had the bottom right one, with her grandmother in the bottom left one.  
And they were cleaning her dad's car while he slept late into the afternoon.  
~~~  
But that was not the way things are now. Her dad had thrown those shoes in the creek, he had sold his old car in place of a new one, and she now lived in sunny California. Far away from her grandmother, the car dealership, her parents, and the creek.

For the sake of this, though, she went there when her minute of burpees came up. And that was were she was still when the gym teacher called time, with Quinn at eighteen burpees.

And that wasn't a bad number for a girl. The most fit boys that were in her gym class that were athletes got around twenty-four.

And Journalism made her day even better.

"Can we go look at the yearbooks at counseling for the picture?" Quinn asked Ms. Schertell a little after class started.

"Sure."

And so Quinn and her friend, Puck went out to go to the counseling office to get the 1998 yearbook. They needed the yearbook for a picture of one of the older teachers for an article on the eighties and nineties that Quinn was working on.

"I got your text last night," Puck said, breaking the silence, "But I didn't reply because I didn't think you were serious. I wasn't serious when I said that. What made you change your mind?"

"I just thought it over," Quinn replied, "And I realized that it would be a lot of fun if we just went for it and did it."

"There's no way we're going to do it. It was just a joke."

"We'll see about that. We definitely have to do it before we graduate!"

After grabbing that 1998 yearbook, they headed to the main administration to see if they could find any earlier ones, because that was the goal.

"Sorry, but the best place to check would probably be the library," the secretary replied when Quinn asked if she had any yearbooks.

As they walked down the hall to get back outside, Quinn asked out loud, "Why didn't we think of that?!"

When they got to the library, the librarian informed them: "Sorry, I don't have any yearbooks, and a young man already came through here and asked."

"Oh, no. What did he look like?" Quinn asked excitedly.

They were essentially in a race against Eduardo, another journalist in her class that was looking for the same thing, for the same reason. Eduardo had said that he just wanted to help her, but Quinn made a contest of everything.

"He was older, with curly dark hair," the librarian explained, describing some features of Eduardo.

"Oh, no!" Quinn repeated, running for the door.

Puck, however, remained calm.

"How long ago did he pass by here?" He inquired.

"About five minutes ago, and if you want another place to check, try the Vice Principal's office."

"Thank you," Puck said graciously and hurried after Quinn.

Puck went into the Vice Principal's office, returning not long after.

"Nothing."

The entire time back to the class, Quinn was ranting.

"We were just five minutes behind! We should have won!"

When they got to the classroom, they showed Ms. Schertell the yearbook. Eduardo was already there, flipping through his yearbook. From 1997.

"Darn it!" Quinn kept saying on repeat after she saw what year Eduardo had.  
He looked up and handed her the book so she could look for Mr. Egan herself. After flipping through it she found the staff page but Mr. Egan was not in it.

"Oh my George, he was not even a teacher at this time!" Quinn exclaimed when she saw she couldn't find him, "So we really did win, Puck, because he wasn't a teacher in this year so we do have the earliest picture!"

Eduardo looked confused and took the book and looked for himself. And Quinn was right. So he went to go put the yearbook away while Puck looked through the student handbook from 1997.

"Mr. Egan is listed on here, Quinn."

"Well then why isn't he in the yearbook?"

"I don't know but, I guess we did win."

The rest of the day was uneventful. As soon as Quinn got to sixth period, she asked Mr. Egan why he wasn't in the yearbook.

"Oh, I thought I could get away with not putting myself in the yearbook because I was the yearbook advisor that year."

"Oh wow," Quinn thought to herself, "And here I thought it was some huge mystery!"

Before sixth period, she did not see Sam. Probably for the better, although she wouldn't like to admit it, she did think he was a little bit attractive, even if she tried to say she was completely over him in her mind.

"Who are you waiting for? Dominic?"

Quinn asked Santana slyly as they waited outside their English classroom.

"No, of course not!" Santana said, "I'm just waiting for somebody else."

Quinn checks her phone, for the time and then looks up. There's Sam all by himself with no blonde girl. But as soon as she realizes this, he runs up to two cheerleaders and puts his arms around both of them.

"Wait a minute," Quinn thinks to herself, "I think I know one of those cheerleaders."

Quinn takes off on a quick walk to see if she can catch up. She loses them briefly and finds them but only the cheerleaders and no Sam. She catches up and passes the cheerleaders and looks back one of them is that girl in her journalism class that she talked to once.

"Well, I could just try talking to her tomorrow and see if she could know anything! Because I highly doubt she even knows him and she looked a bit flustered as if he just did that randomly! So he probably is... No. I do not want to think about that it does not matter, right it?" She quickly scolded herself for thinking that he could and would ever return the feelings she has tried to keep hidden for so long. And so she went home to continue to ponder over what was going on. And the more she thought about it the more she realized.

"If," she thought, "He was dating that blonde girl, why would he randomly put his arms around those two cheerleaders? Obviously he isn't dating anyone and since he doesn't know them, it looks a little bit suspicious since he did it right when I looked up! Tomorrow I will have to continue to investigate."

But Quinn was really happy that it didn't hurt her as much as yesterday's did. Because that was truly painful. But now she is just wondering what is going on in her life right now. And after all, she's always been a sucker for mysteries.

"Who was that guy you were with yesterday?" Quinn asked nonchalantly when she caught up to Julianna, the cheerleader she knew, the next day after first period.

"Oh, he's a senior," she replied, blushing cutely.  
"No, I mean the other one that put his arm over you and that other cheerleader."

"Oh, Sam? He's a good friend of mine. He was just like, 'give me that gold chain.'"

Quinn gave a fake laugh and just said, "Oh! I didn't know, because you were blushing so much, and I thought that maybe you didn't even know him."

"No, I know him. We're close friends."  
With that Quinn said a quick parting farewell and left.

"And then he said, 'give me that gold chain,"' Quinn explained to Puck in journalism later that day.

"What does that even mean?" He asked quietly.

"I looked it up in good ol' urban dictionary. It means: 'Gold chaining put simply is the act of talking up one of the boys therefore increasing his chances of impressing a person of the opposite sex one can also gold chain himself, this is only effective when the object can subtly but surely make himself known as a 'boss dog'."'

"So..." Puck started after a long pause of thinking, "He was trying to get her to talk to him yo impress someone?"

"I guess so."

Walking to her sixth period before twelve o'clock felt weird. Since it was minimum day, the school gets out at one o'clock. As Quinn was turning the corner for her English class, she looked up and saw Sam hanging around the corner.

As she walked closer, he turned the corner and disappeared from her line of sight. But when it was her turn to make the turn around the corner, she saw Sam leaning into the doorway of her classroom. She passed through the doorway, avoiding his look.

"What was that about?" She asked herself quietly as she sat down, "Does he even know anyone in this class?" As an after thought, she added, "Well, there are a few short blondes in this class, so possibly."

She didn't see him after school. And she wouldn't see him Monday because there was no school. Yup, this weekend promised to be stress free.

High school hadn't started long ago for Quinn Fabray, but she already had a major crush. Sam Evans. He was in her gym class for first period, and they were both freshmen. A month into high school, and she was in deep.

Her friend, Brittney Pierce was on the Cheerios cheerleading team with him, and she knew about her crush. Brittany had told Sam about Quinn's crush a while ago. Although Brittany was always telling her to just go for it, she could never ask him out. She was certain that since Sam hadn't done anything, even with the knowledge that she liked him, that he was not interested.

Math with Brittney Wednesday afternoon was uneventful. Just the usual, with Brittney making crude jokes about her and Sam with Quinn blushing.

"Today is going better than the rest of the week had been," she thought peacefully as the bell rang.

And this was true. In Monday, she woke up just as school started, on Tuesday, she twisted her ankle so painfully that it hurt to walk for the rest if the day, but today was different. Today was good.

Walking to her sixth period English class, she couldn't have been happier. This was her last class of the day. What made it even better was that as she turned the corner, she got to see Sam. That was unusual, for he usually stayed down the hall by his class. But there was a few times where she got to see him before sixth.

Smiling, Quinn walked slower, to see him for just a few more precious seconds.

Sam slowed up his walking as well and cupped his hand to his mouth, then half yelled: "Get off your phone!" To this short blonde girl that walked past him.

Right as Quinn was walking into the classroom, she saw Sam pick up his arm and put it over the girl's shoulder.

Walking to her seat, Quinn's legs felt numb and like Jello. She could fall over any second. Her heart dropped and her mouth instantly felt dry. Staring at her desk for a few seconds before sitting, she blinked quickly to stop the current onslaught of tears that threatened to show.

"Why?" She thought as she fiddled with the pencil she got out to distract her from crying.

"I'm blonde too. Why? Is it because she's shorter? Just... why?"

The tears threatened to fall down her cheeks but she scolded herself.

"No. Not right now. When you get home. Not now."

She quickly sniffed and blinked fast to dry her eyes.

Noah Puckerman, or Puck, as everyone called him, sat in front of her in his normal seat.

"What's up?" He asked. He could sense her depression.

"Nothing," she lied.

But that answer didn't work for long. By the end of the period, he had figured it out anyway.

"Oh. Yeah, I know her. I don't know her name, but Finn has a locker next to her," Puck said when the two walked outside and saw them all over each other when class ended.

Quinn said nothing, so Puck continued: "She's hella ugly though. But I will admit she's got an ass."

Letting out a small choked sob, Quinn covered her face.

Puck closed his mouth and looked at her apologetically.

"I'm sorry. That was stupid," he apologized.

Shaking her head, Quinn replied, "No, it's okay. Really. It's stupid for me to get upset over this."

"Let me walk you home?"

"I'll be fine," the sad blonde says as she walked away.  
***  
"Eww! He's so ugly!" Sugar Motta had told Quinn that morning when she saw who she was oogling.

Quinn laughs silently at her words now, as she lays in bed, with all the lights off, and the curtains closed off.

"If only she was right," Quinn thought sadly.

Now Quinn lets the tears fall freely down her checks and into her pillow. She was scared for tomorrow.

"Everyday gets worse and worse," she thought, "Waking up late was annoying, as was twisting my ankle. But this is worse than any twisted ankle. How must I be if that girl really is as ugly as Puck says?"

Feeling too tired and aggravated, she can't even get out of bed.

Thinking about what Puck said to her yesterday after school kept going through her mind.

They were just hanging out after school, by the W building, where they could see the broken cars for auto body classes.  
"We should totally hop over the wall and go into one of those cars. We can even make a movie of it!" Puck said giddily.  
Quinn immediately put her foot down on it.

"No way, Puckerman. I'm not trying to get suspended," she said as a kneejerk response.

He didn't mention it again after that.  
But laying in bed, staring at the dark ceiling, Quinn realized something.

"I don't care. I don't care at all anymore."

Grabbing her phone from her bedside table, she quickly texted Puck.

Q: hey. I was thinking about what u said. And we should totally get in 1 of those cars. Txt me when u get this.

Laying her phone on her bed, Quinn smiled a small smile. The first smile she's had for almost twelve hours, she realized, looking at the time and seeing it was almost three in the morning.

"This is about to get hella good. Because I just got over Sam. Normally it takes me longer, but here I am. Completely over in just a few hours. Go me. I fucking rock."  
The next morning was definitely one of Quinn Fabray's finer mornings.

"You've got this. You are an awesome girl who looks absolutely amazing today!" Were Quinn's words while she put on her makeup, looking at herself in the mirror.  
In gym, she couldn't stop smiling and laughing. Even though that was her first class of the day, and Sam was in it, she had a great time.

"Stop smiling. You look like a physcopath," one of her friends, Santana said grimly at gym.

"I can't help it! I'm just so happy!" Quinn exclaimed.

That morning, the gym class were in five different rows, and with one person in the front of the line facing the line. People in the line would go up one at a time to do burpees for a full minute, and do as many as they can. The person already at the front of the line would count them.

Quinn's counter for the burpees was one of Sam's friends, who Quinn did not know the name of. She was not nervous at all. If it were any other day, she might have been over the fact that Sam was right next to her line, counting for one of her friends. So he had a full view of her. But that still didn't make her nervous.

As the last person before her went up, she immediately starting think of her happy place.  
~~~  
Quinn was wearing her favorite white heels. They were beautiful. Her grandmother gave her them long ago. She was wearing her favorite pink spring top, that flowed past her hips, and hung down her midthighs. Wearing short shorts, she easily walked in the summer heat. But she loved it. It was part of the small amount of time that it didn't not snow or rain in where she was living. Helena, Montana. And she was next to her beloved Grandma Debbie. The amazing, witty, grandmother that she had known all her life. She had recently moved from Thousand Oaks, California, living with her parents in a big blue house that was split into four areas. For four apartments. Quinn and her family  had the bottom right one, with her grandmother in the bottom left one.  
And they were cleaning her dad's car while he slept late into the afternoon.  
~~~  
But that was not the way things are now. Her dad had thrown those shoes in the creek, he had sold his old car in place of a new one, and she now lived in sunny California. Far away from her grandmother, the car dealership, her parents, and the creek.

For the sake of this, though, she went there when her minute of burpees came up. And that was were she was still when the gym teacher called time, with Quinn at eighteen burpees.

And that wasn't a bad number for a girl. The most fit boys that were in her gym class that were athletes got around twenty-four.

And Journalism made her day even better.

"Can we go look at the yearbooks at counseling for the picture?" Quinn asked Ms. Schertell a little after class started.

"Sure."

And so Quinn and her friend, Puck went out to go to the counseling office to get the 1998 yearbook. They needed the yearbook for a picture of one of the older teachers for an article on the eighties and nineties that Quinn was working on.

"I got your text last night," Puck said, breaking the silence, "But I didn't reply because I didn't think you were serious. I wasn't serious when I said that. What made you change your mind?"

"I just thought it over," Quinn replied, "And I realized that it would be a lot of fun if we just went for it and did it."

"There's no way we're going to do it. It was just a joke."

"We'll see about that. We definitely have to do it before we graduate!"

After grabbing that 1998 yearbook, they headed to the main administration to see if they could find any earlier ones, because that was the goal.

"Sorry, but the best place to check would probably be the library," the secretary replied when Quinn asked if she had any yearbooks.

As they walked down the hall to get back outside, Quinn asked out loud, "Why didn't we think of that?!"

When they got to the library, the librarian informed them: "Sorry, I don't have any yearbooks, and a young man already came through here and asked."

"Oh, no. What did he look like?" Quinn asked excitedly.

They were essentially in a race against Eduardo, another journalist in her class that was looking for the same thing, for the same reason. Eduardo had said that he just wanted to help her, but Quinn made a contest of everything.

"He was older, with curly dark hair," the librarian explained, describing some features of Eduardo.

"Oh, no!" Quinn repeated, running for the door.

Puck, however, remained calm.

"How long ago did he pass by here?" He inquired.

"About five minutes ago, and if you want another place to check, try the Vice Principal's office."

"Thank you," Puck said graciously and hurried after Quinn.

Puck went into the Vice Principal's office, returning not long after.

"Nothing."

The entire time back to the class, Quinn was ranting.

"We were just five minutes behind! We should have won!"

When they got to the classroom, they showed Ms. Schertell the yearbook. Eduardo was already there, flipping through his yearbook. From 1997.

"Darn it!" Quinn kept saying on repeat after she saw what year Eduardo had.  
He looked up and handed her the book so she could look for Mr. Egan herself. After flipping through it she found the staff page but Mr. Egan was not in it.

"Oh my George, he was not even a teacher at this time!" Quinn exclaimed when she saw she couldn't find him, "So we really did win, Puck, because he wasn't a teacher in this year so we do have the earliest picture!"

Eduardo looked confused and took the book and looked for himself. And Quinn was right. So he went to go put the yearbook away while Puck looked through the student handbook from 1997.

"Mr. Egan is listed on here, Quinn."

"Well then why isn't he in the yearbook?"

"I don't know but, I guess we did win."

The rest of the day was uneventful. As soon as Quinn got to sixth period, she asked Mr. Egan why he wasn't in the yearbook.

"Oh, I thought I could get away with not putting myself in the yearbook because I was the yearbook advisor that year."

"Oh wow," Quinn thought to herself, "And here I thought it was some huge mystery!"

Before sixth period, she did not see Sam. Probably for the better, although she wouldn't like to admit it, she did think he was a little bit attractive, even if she tried to say she was completely over him in her mind.

"Who are you waiting for? Dominic?"

Quinn asked Santana slyly as they waited outside their English classroom.

"No, of course not!" Santana said, "I'm just waiting for somebody else."

Quinn checks her phone, for the time and then looks up. There's Sam all by himself with no blonde girl. But as soon as she realizes this, he runs up to two cheerleaders and puts his arms around both of them.

"Wait a minute," Quinn thinks to herself, "I think I know one of those cheerleaders."

Quinn takes off on a quick walk to see if she can catch up. She loses them briefly and finds them but only the cheerleaders and no Sam. She catches up and passes the cheerleaders and looks back one of them is that girl in her journalism class that she talked to once.

"Well, I could just try talking to her tomorrow and see if she could know anything! Because I highly doubt she even knows him and she looked a bit flustered as if he just did that randomly! So he probably is... No. I do not want to think about that it does not matter, right it?" She quickly scolded herself for thinking that he could and would ever return the feelings she has tried to keep hidden for so long. And so she went home to continue to ponder over what was going on. And the more she thought about it the more she realized.

"If," she thought, "He was dating that blonde girl, why would he randomly put his arms around those two cheerleaders? Obviously he isn't dating anyone and since he doesn't know them, it looks a little bit suspicious since he did it right when I looked up! Tomorrow I will have to continue to investigate."

But Quinn was really happy that it didn't hurt her as much as yesterday's did. Because that was truly painful. But now she is just wondering what is going on in her life right now. And after all, she's always been a sucker for mysteries.

"Who was that guy you were with yesterday?" Quinn asked nonchalantly when she caught up to Julianna, the cheerleader she knew, the next day after first period.

"Oh, he's a senior," she replied, blushing cutely.  
"No, I mean the other one that put his arm over you and that other cheerleader."

"Oh, Sam? He's a good friend of mine. He was just like, 'give me that gold chain.'"

Quinn gave a fake laugh and just said, "Oh! I didn't know, because you were blushing so much, and I thought that maybe you didn't even know him."

"No, I know him. We're close friends."  
With that Quinn said a quick parting farewell and left.

"And then he said, 'give me that gold chain,"' Quinn explained to Puck in journalism later that day.

"What does that even mean?" He asked quietly.

"I looked it up in good ol' urban dictionary. It means: 'Gold chaining put simply is the act of talking up one of the boys therefore increasing his chances of impressing a person of the opposite sex one can also gold chain himself, this is only effective when the object can subtly but surely make himself known as a 'boss dog'."'

"So..." Puck started after a long pause of thinking, "He was trying to get her to talk to him yo impress someone?"

"I guess so."

Walking to her sixth period before twelve o'clock felt weird. Since it was minimum day, the school gets out at one o'clock. As Quinn was turning the corner for her English class, she looked up and saw Sam hanging around the corner.

As she walked closer, he turned the corner and disappeared from her line of sight. But when it was her turn to make the turn around the corner, she saw Sam leaning into the doorway of her classroom. She passed through the doorway, avoiding his look.

"What was that about?" She asked herself quietly as she sat down, "Does he even know anyone in this class?" As an after thought, she added, "Well, there are a few short blondes in this class, so possibly."

She didn't see him after school. And she wouldn't see him Monday because there was no school. Yup, this weekend promised to be stress free.


	2. Only Uphill From Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A sort of filler as characters develop and interesting events occur...

**_ Week 7 Day 1 _ **

"Are you even sure about this?" Puck asked Quinn as he got ready to hoist her over the chain linked fence.

They had been arguing about this all week. It was now Thursday of the following week, and Quinn was ready. Nothing had happened at all with Sam, and she was bored.

Other than the fact that she found out Puck was right about "her." Her being the girl that Sam was with every second of the day. She had a serious trunk and chest.

But now, she was ready to try something fun and new. She put her foot on his intertwined hands.

"Up, up, up, and away!" Quinn giggled.

Once she was on the other side of the fence safely, Puck jumped behind her.

"Just hurry up and take the video," he whined.

She did want to take a quick video for a personal keepsake to have once they got into a car. Which would not be difficult since some of the cars didn't even have doors, and they were all unlocked. Because this was for an auto body shop class, after all. So none of the cars even worked. 

Looking for a good car that she would not mind being in, she settled for a red Chevy Malibu. Getting in the car in the driver's seat, she turned on the video from her phone camera.

"Hey, hey, hey," the perky freshman started, with a wide smile on her face.

"Right now, I am currently in a car from the auto body class, while school is out. Not sure if this is legal, or against the rules in the school student handbook, but here I am. This totally counts as a loophole because no one said I couldn't, right?"

She turned it off and sat back, looking around at the inside of the car she chose. It was pretty beat up.

"You know," the high-on-life girl said to Puck, who had been out of the car, near the front so as to not be in her video, "I really thought this would be more exhilarating."

"Um... I think you're about to get that wish granted."

Puck looked straight ahead at the gate that separated the regular parking lot with the auto body class's parking lot.

Quinn stuck her head out of the doorless car and asked: "What are you ev-"

There was a campus patrol cop walking towards them as they sat there in silence. He was going to go through the only gate that they could leave out of.

"Thanks, Fabray. Another thing to add to my record," Puck mumbled, shaking his head. 

The girl started shaking her head too, but the difference was that she was smiling.

"Let's go!" She said hurriedly and excitedly as she ran out of view from the outside of the gate and to the wall.

Puck followed, but decidedly announced: "It's no use, we're caught."

Using a car for leverage, Quinn hopped over the stone wall. As long as they were quick, they wouldn't be caught. The gate was the only thing made of chain link, so if the campus cop got too close before they were out, he would see them more closely, and perhaps identify them in the future.

Puck did the same, and soon he was right next to his partner in crime on the other side of the wall.

They now had several choices. Puck started running all of them through his head, but he didn't get a chance to pick one.

The giddy blonde grabbed the boy's hand and ran for the gym. 

Once Puck saw where they were headed, he angrily whispered, so they wouldn't be heard if there were people listening, "We can't go in the gym! No doubt it's locked, and we probably aren't supposed to be in there after school hours!"

Quinn, with her hand still in his, replied, "We're not going  _in_ the gym."

They got to the side of the big building and used a dumpster to get on top of the smaller building that was next to the gym. From there, they started climbing the tall ladder that was bolted to the side of the actual gym. After they were on the roof, they lay down on the flat surface so they would not be seen.

Puck saw her grab her phone out and click the camera app.

"Don't you dare," he whispered.

Quinn just smiled and put on another video.

"Hello, there. This is Quinn Fabray, back again. Only this time, on the roof of the school gym. Yup, today has been pretty lit. And just think! It's only Thursday! Keep on keeping on!" She shut it off and rolled onto her back.

"You know, Puckerman," the girl said after a second of looking up at the sky, "I really could get used to this view," she smiled and looked at the clouds closely, seeing if they resembled anything. 

"Better not," he grunted as he shifted the weight on his arm that had his head on it.

 

BrattyBritt>23:  **did u do the hw yet**

This was the first text message Quinn saw when she got out of the shower and checked her phone for the time. And it was a pretty late time too, it was almost 11:00 at night. But here was Britney asking for pictures of the math homework like she always did.

BBQuinn:  **No, and I don't think I'll have time to do it tonight, either.**

While the annoying blonde typed that, she was reminded that Brit did not like using proper grammar and/or spelling. Which made her really upset because then it looked like she wasn't even worth enough time, like she was just a means to an end for passing math. And so she lied about not doing the homework, because she always did the homework. But sometimes she just did not feel like Britney should get the answers on a free pass.

BrattyBritt>23:  **ok, jus send it 2 me wen u do**

And this was the type of thing that really boiled her blood. Quinn could rant day in and day out about what was wrong with this particular sentence. If you can call it that, with the lack of punctuation and capitalization.

And then Britney really messed up.

BrattyBrit>23:  **send nudes**

The now furious blonde did not even bother answering back. Because if she did, she did not trust herself to not attempt to reach through her own phone and smack Britney across the face.

"This has got to stop," the raging Quinn thought to herself, "I cannot keep giving her the answers. I vow that I will not give her any more easy shots at the math homework for the rest of the school year. I have been too nice. And way too taken advantage of."  
  


_** Week 7 Day 2 ** _

"Another promising and good weekend," the cheerful freshman girl thought to herself as she walked through the big gates leading to the main parking lot.

No homework meant no Britney. No obligations meant not having to put on makeup or go out anywhere. In fact, Quinn Fabray was sure she was not even getting out of bed that weekend.

**_ Week 7 Day 3 _ **

"I know right. You have some white ass thighs," one of Sam's friends in gym class said to Sam himself.

They were messing around while Coach Beaste took attendance in their rows. Sam pulled up his gym shorts revealing some really white thighs. In contrast to his tanned lower legs, his thighs were paper.

Quinn grimaced and cringed in disgust as she looked away.

"Wait a minute..." Her eyes got wide as she realized how much that made her sick.

"A few weeks ago, I had seen those same tan lines and did not mind them... Now I think I might need a garbage can, because my breakfast is about to reappear," she continued her train of thought happily.

Once again, her good mood was destroyed soon after a great epiphany.

"Why can't I ever stay in a good mood?" She asked herself angrily as she listened to Coach Beaste explain their workout for the day.

The workout they were doing that day involved the basketball courts and two of the corners. They would start off in two groups. One group went to one corner of the courts and did five pushups. The other group did ten lunges. Both groups would do their workout, then jog around the perimeter. 

Now, Quinn might not have minded the actual  _workout_ itself, but actually what happened right before the exercise.

She saw Sam and his friends go to the lunging corner, so she turned around and went to the pushup corner. Sam pointed over at the corner Quinn was now at and they promptly turned around and walked over there as well.

Quinn did not want to look childish, and she figured it was too late anyway, so she stayed in the pushup area and silently cursed her luck.

She continued trying to play at being over Sam. Especially since he had "fuckboy ways" as Puck had called the things he does. But she was still taken aback when she saw him playing basketball with his baseball cap backwards.

It was after the workout, and the class either needed to walk around the basketball courts or play a game of basketball. Quinn hated the fact that she still found that retarted baseball cap trend attractive, especially when it was on him, but there was nothing that could prepare her for that sight. Uncomfortably, it took her breath away each time.

 

"That's what my real problem is," Quinn sighed as she walked into her study hall classroom, "The unexpected."

She had just unexpectedly saw Sam as he passed her on her way to the next class she had. Again, her breath was forcefully taken away. Instead of it being a blissfully beautiful moment with no oxygen like it used to, it simply felt like she lost her breath from getting punched in the gut.

She did, however, let out a small giggle when she saw that Sam was quite a bit shorter than her. Always knowing this anyways, it still made her smile when she saw this in action. That might have been one of the things he didn't like about her, but she didn't mind.

It had already been over a month since school started, and Quinn was starting to get into the flow of things. The happy girl was getting quite familiar with the school, and quite familiar with the people that went there.

She found out that Sam's number one friend that he could now always be seen with at gym was actually an brown haired Irish kid named Rory Flanagan.

She didn't mind him, and eavesdropping on his and Sam's conversations- completely accidentally- she found out that he was actually really funny. Quinn repeatedly swore to herself that his funny nature had nothing to do with his exotic accent. Although that hot way he said his words slighlty different from others might have had something to do with it.

The only problem was: her best friend Sugar Motta had a huge crush on Rory since the moment she saw him.

That might have been the reason Quinn formed a small liking to him. She talked about him literally _all_ _the time._

"Oh. My. George! Did you see Rory's gym shorts today? Wowee!"

"I think he's totally my type! I mean, I think he just moved here because I never saw him before, but I pretty sure he is 100% perfect for me."

"I just  _love_ the way Rory is doing his hair now!"

"Let's meet up after school and watch Rory run around the track!"

"Doesn't Rory look so cute in his hat?"

At first, it was extremely irritating and annoying to hear these things and a variation of them all the time, but Quinn slowly stopped minding it.

In fact, she started to agree with some of the things Sugar pointed out about the boy. And Quinn started getting annoyed with herself for sharing feelings with a boy her friend had in her sights first.

**_ Week 7 Day 4 _ **

"Hey, want to be on my team for volleyball? I've seen that you are very good," Rory asked Quinn one day as they went outside of gym. She instantly smiled at his thick Irish accent. It was 100% there all the time and 100% cute.

Looking back at Sugar Motta who was viciously nodding her head, confusing the blonde, she replied with a: "Sure."

On the team with Quinn was Sam and Rory as well as two girls that she did not recognize from anywhere. The team that they were playing included Sugar, Santana, Brittney and three boys Quinn also did not care to know about.

Sam's team easily won, even without anyone keeping score. Sam had the talent, and Rory had the enthusiasm with running around and putting in a good effort.

"Good game," the Irish lad said to the tired blonde one the bell rang to go get dressed out.

She nodded politely and started walking to the court gates where everyone else was already filing out of.

"I was wondering..." Rory ran to catch up with the girl and fell into step with her.

"What are you doing after school today? I was thinking we could hang out for a little while," he finished his thought.

Quinn could tell he was holding his breath, waiting for her answer.

"Sorry, Rory, but I have a lot planned out for today," she said gently as she avoided his eyes.

She realized she did not know his eye color, but figured now was not the time to find out as he was sure to have disappointment in them.

"Oh, that's okay. Maybe some other time."

And she definitely couldn't look him in his eyes after that. She knew there could and would not be a next time because of Sugar's infatuation with him. 

The blonde tried her best to ignore his sadness, so they walked in silence for a few seconds before Rory spoke again.

"Is it because you still like Sam?"

Quinn stopped in her tracks but quickly started up again.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," the girl made her final words before she branched off with the rest of the girls in the direction of the girl's locker rooms.

Quinn didn't lose her cool. 

"Who cares who knows about my  _old_ crush. That is so last week," she laughed silently as she got changed into her regular school clothes that she picked out that day.

**Q: I'm so bored. Let's do something after school today. Something exciting.**

Quinn texted Puck in sixth period. She had no plans after school, and he never had plans, so she figured they might as well do something to top off a boring Tuesday. 

And so they didn't. 

"Dude, I can't afford to get into trouble this year. I really need to graduate," Puck pouted when they met after school that day.

And this was true. Puck was a junior, and had been the class bad boy/trouble maker for the last two years.

The age difference often made people turn their heads as they walked by, but it wasn't what they often maliciously thought. Puck and Quinn simply knew each other from church.

"Boo," the annoyed blonde walked away, drawing the word out. 

"Hey, you want to talk about boo?" Puck started up as he jogged to catch up with her fast pace.

When the freshman didn't reply, he continued: "I heard that you turned down ol' Rory Flanagan. But why? I thought you were over Sam by a long shot."

"I am. By a super long shot. It's just... I have my eye on someone else. End of story."

Although that was only half true. The person she had her sights on had been absent for almost a whole school week.

But she still found him attractive, she was just too busy worrying about what was going on with him to think about how good he looked.

Puck left it alone after that, but she could tell he was just dying to know every detail. 

**_ Week 7 Day 5 _ **

Quinn knew in every bone in her body that she was done with Sam when she saw something right before lunch ended. 

Everyday at school, after eating, Quinn always went to the F building bathroom to fix her hair and makeup. A few weeks ago, she had noticed that Sam sometimes hung out by the tree that just so happened to be next to said bathroom.

Well, when she walked out, she always walked straight out to get to her next class. Taking a few steps, she saw Sam hug a girl that Quinn knew was in her Spanish class. Her name was either Hannah or Abby, she couldn't remember. They then parted ways and Quinn was able to get to math class.

She didn't feel her heart drop like it had before, now she really couldn't care less what Sam did. Or, rather,  _who_ he did. And that list seemed to be a long one. 

In fact, just that morning Quinn had to arrive at school an hour and a half earlier than normal to get the school newspapers so she could pass them out that day.

Puck was with her, waiting for first period. Puck, as per usual, was listing off a list of girls and guys he thought were hoes. Sam Evans actually ended up being on that list. Quinn sure did get a kick out of that.

Although it made sense of that girl Abby or Hannah, (who also happened to be a cheerleader, go figure,) and Sam might be together. Abby/Hannah and Sam were talking for a long period of time after school one day. Quinn only remembered this because they were literally  _right in front of her._

"I'm so glad I moved on," she thought smugly.

Another thought that brought a small triumphant smile to her face was that Britney had not talked to her for two days now. She had gotten mad over one thing or another Quinn did, and Quinn felt the weight of the world finally off her shoulders. Britney did not text her or even look at her. She hadn't even uttered a word of greetings, passing or farewell and Quinn was thoroughly delighted.

Although she could bet money that Britney would be blowing up her phone again after the math tests. They had not had a lot of homework because of this reason.

But when they did have homework again, the smart blonde had resolved to not even answer to her anymore.

**_ Week 7 Day 6 _ **

"...make sure to say yes, Okay? I'm going to need all the inside information I can get," Sugar was saying in gym the next day. 

Quinn always tried to make sure to listen to the rich girl's ranting, because a lot of it was always important. But she couldn't help tuning her out as she watched Rory walk out of the locker rooms, fully dressed out and ready for gym.

"I don't know why he insists in wearing those silly short shorts, but I will admit... It doesn't look to bad on him," this was the blonde's thoughts as she looked away, trying to not be caught staring.

She quickly looked around as she realized what she said to herself.

Hoping that someone else had said that out loud, and that it was not indeed something that came from her own mind, she was disappointed.

She looked back at Sugar Motta who was still blabbering, and started feeling a little guilty. Quinn had purposely said no to Rory's offer the other day because she was trying to be a nice friend. Yet, here she was checking him out.

She tuned back into what her friend was saying. But it was too little, too late.

"Got it?" The daughter of Ryan Motta, multi-millionaire asked while looking at Quinn expectantly.

"Um... yeah. But what do you want me to do again?"

"If Rory wants to get close to you, then let him, because I want details on what he is like personality-wise. I already know he's cute, but what's he actually like under those layers of soft, beautiful skin?"

Quinn gulped and nodded as she got to her spot because Coach Beaste was coming to their lines to take attendance.

Thankfully, Quinn didn't have to lead Rory on that day at the expense of her morality just for the sake of her friend.

But to the expense of her emotions, she figured out the cheerleader that Quinn just loathed and Sam were, in fact, an item. In Biology, they had to go to a different classroom for a lab. This lab as in the W building.

As she turned the corner, she saw Sam and that cheerleader hug briefly. Sam and her caught each other's eyes and she could not describe the look in his eyes. She knew she would have to figure it out soon, before it disappeared from her memory.

It was almost a look of surprise, but then curiosity. But the thing that felt like it was there the most was an extremely awkward tension.

Quinn just rolled her eyes and walked up the spiral staircase to her lab class. She was over it for sure. She wasn't upset over things she could not control.

She was letting go, and that felt like the most amazing feeling in the world. The second most amazing feeling, she knew, was knowing that Sam thought he was good enough for any random cheerleader that came by. 

Quinn specifically didn't like cheerleaders at all. It had nothing to do with jealously, and everything to do with the fact that they all happened to be extremely snooty.

In fact, just in that class, they had a quiz at the end of the period about anatomical names and where they were located on the human body. 

Quinn had it down. She was sure she could recite the answers in her sleep. To her annoyance, however, two cheerleaders, along with another girl the blonde didn't like, chose to sit at Quinn's table. And they clearly knew nothing about what they have been taught for about a week now.

Quinn remembered the other girl who was not a cheerleader, possibly named Katie, had conned her into giving the dim girl all the answers in the last quiz they had.

When the smart blonde was reciting the answers with another girl who also had it down, Katie had said a comment that really made Quinn steam.

"Good thing I sat next to her," Katie had said with a laugh.

But when the time for the pop quiz came, Quinn turned her body and covered her answers with her hand. 

She finished in less than a minute, and flipped her paper over. After a few seconds of her paper being turned over, she could hear Katie do a silent "psst."

This continued on for the entire duration of the test. Katie going "psst," every few seconds, and Quinn pretending not to hear her as she studied a clay figure that showed the structure of muscles and their shape.

She didn't even have to pretend to study it. It really was fascinating. Anything and everything to do with medicine or the human body, Quinn was interested in.

As everyone turned in their papers, she clearly saw that the cheerleaders' and Katie had only done about a fourth of their quiz.

"I'd bet anything that's an automatic 'F,' even if they somehow managed to get the cotrect answers for the ones they did answer," Quinn thought to herself. 

It wasn't a smug thought, however, in fact she was indifferent.

Quinn could not let someone ruin her semi-good mood that appeared as she walked in the lab room.

She had gotten a juice box from the cafeteria before class, and cleverly dropped it a few feet away from the class door.

"You dropped your-" Someone behind her stated as she picked it up and turned to face them.

"Juice box," the person finished.

It was the cute Mexican sophomore that had a mustache.

Normally, Quinn despised any kind of facial hair, but his big, brown ox eyes complimented it so well.

She gave a small smile and turned around as he started up again, "I read your article in the newspaper, Quinn. It was really good."

He knew her name? And read her newspaper article? She was only 90% sure his name was Jacob.

But she didn't get a chance to thank him, because she was already in the class and several people seperated them.

Quinn had no idea how he knew her name, for they had only talked twice. Although both times, she had tried to make it obvious she was interested.

The first time was as she walked into the regular Biology classroom, he was sitting on her desk and she said a polite, "Excuse me, sorry."

He got up and answered, "No.  _I'm_ sorry."

Smiling a small smile, Quinn continued with: "It's okay."

He gave an appraising smirk and walked to his seat.

The second time was just a few days ago, when they were in another lab messing around with some microscopes. It was time to clean up, and Jacob and one of his friends were finishing up the worksheet.

She looked at the answers he had, even though she was already finished with her paper and turned it in a while ago.

Immediately noticing that he had an answer that did not even make sense, she ran over the real answer in her head several times. She wanted to make sure she was completely correct. 

The question was: "If you move the slide to the left, what direction will it show it moved under the microscope?"

Jacob and his friend simply put the answer as: "Yes."

So Quinn spoke up. 

"The answer is actually right, because the question is asking how the specimen slide will move, it's not a yes or no question," she said with a nice smile.

"Oh," Jacob said as he looked up at her, down at his paper, then back again.

"Thank you," he finished. 

"No problem," Quinn said happily as she walked to the other side of the lab to retrieve her backpack. 

"Hey! Thank you!" The sophomore called after her. 

She turned her head and gave a warm smile over her shoulder. It didn't take her long at all to interpret his look.

He definitely had one of those "open book" faces. But Quinn loved that some people had the quality of not being able to hide their emotions. It just made eveything so much easier. 

And this open book had  mixture of adoration, sincerity, and surprise were written all over his features.


	3. Free of Weight

          But Quinn was finished with this type of drama. She sometimes didn't see the point of going out with someone or dating anyone. And that was okay with her, because she had her own issues right about now.

          Although she was currently laying in bed at 1:06 in the afternoon on a school day, she couldn't bring herself to care about anything she missed.

          "I can't go back there," she thought sadly, "I couldn't do it today, and I might not be able to do it tomorrow."

          Puck had promised her he would come over to her house when she school ended do they could hang out. And Quinn couldn't think of anything else she would need more.

          The blonde girl partially told him of her slight breakdown in 6th period the following day.

          She hated loss, and this was hee biggest case of it. Her English teacher had died in a car accident a few days before school was supposed to start up again after Winter break.

          Being the closest to this teacher, she felt the pang of loss the second she heard the news over a text from Puck.

          When she walked into the classroom that used to release her of her worries and troubles, she felt the terrible weight on her shoulders. 

          The principal was there, and when he said the words out loud, she was a mess. She still couldn't believe it. Principal Figgins tried to say it was gently as possible, but when he came to give her a tissue, she asked to go to the bathroom. Which ended in another teacher getting her backpack, while she went to the counselors office.

        Laying in bed that night, she couldn't help but fell like everything that the world had worked so hard to make was slowly chipping away. 

          Trying to console herself made it worse.

          "His time was up."

          'He finished his job on Earth."

          "Someone somewhere else needs him."

          But none of these things she repeated made her feel better. It just made her cry even more. It was only her first year of high school, but she still felt tired and done. 

          Knowing that she should get back to school, but also that she shouldn't push herself, she didn't know what she should do about tomorrow regarding school. 

          She had spent the day just trying to pass time. Reading, playing games, sleeping, anything to keep her mind off it for a single second. Quinn felt like she has to just keep passing time, until.... She didn't even know until when. Until it no longer hurt? That didn't seem like something that would ever happen. Until she got over it? Again, that didn't seem like something that would happen. 

          But she couldn't run forever. It was only Tuesday, and although she has to doubt in her mind that her mom would let her stay home the rest of the week, she was only slightly concerned with her schoolwork.

          Grades were something she uses to care about. It would be a stretch for her to miss even one day. And now she was considering being absent from school for a while. 

          "Not like anyone would really notice," she thought sadly. 

          Santana had seen her cry yesterday. So had everyone else, quite possibly, but Santana should have at least cared. She didn't text her after school, or even today, when she didn't show up for school. 

          Quinn had always tried to be a good friend, talked to Santana when she was stressed, hell, the blonde teen had been late for classes on several occasions because she was trying to console an upset Santana. But clearly that didn't matter.

          She might have only pretended to care this whole time. Quinn decided to text Puck and ask about Santana.

          Puck and her had barely talked all day. He knew when he needed her space. Unfortunately, no one knew when she didn't want to be left alone.

**Quinn: Did you see Santana today?**

          It took Puck a few seconds, but he finally said:  **yes.**

          Quinn didn't know how to continue, but she finally typed out and sent:  **Was she upset that I was absent?**

**Puck: idk she didn't talk to me.**

**Quinn: You guys didn't meet up before school?**

**Puck: no.**

She decided to leave it at that. She clearly wasn't going to get any information on Santana from Puck.

What Quinn really needed was a permanent distraction. She immediately thought about Santana. Quinn did have a small crush on the dark haired Latina girl after she got to know her. She got over it though.

          Sure, if she started thinking about her more often that infatuation could reappear. And that seemed like the perfect distraction.


End file.
